In battle of nationally ranked teams, Stout edged by Platteville

UW-Platteville 34, UW-Stout 27

PLATTEVILLE (September 30, 2017) - After three weeks off after beating a No. 4 ranked St. Thomas University team, the Blue Devils went on the road to face WIAC opponent, No. 10 ranked, UW-Platteville. UW-Stout had the ball on the Pioneers 18 yard line with six seconds left and couldn't punch it in into the endzone, as the Blue Devils fell to UW-Platteville 34-27. 

UW-Platteville scored with seven minutes remaining in the game to down UW-Stout, 34-27, in a battle of nationally ranked teams Saturday.
The Pioneers Mark Johnson hauled in a 37-yard pass at the 7:18 mark for the deciding score.

In an exciting game where the Blue Devils (2-1) saw a lead of 24-17 at halftime, the Pioneers (3-0) outscored UW-Stout 17-3 in the second half to come out with a victory for their home crowd. 

The Blue Devils scored first on a Kevion McDonald 25 yard touchdown run in the first two minutes of the game. After a three and out by the Pioneers, UW-Stout muffed a punt giving the ball back to UW-Platteville. On the very next play, the Pioneers would score on a Sean Studer 10 yard rushing touchdown. 

On the following drive, the Blue Devils saw a 4th and 3, when Jay Alston would complete a pass to Dustin Rondorf for 16 yards. The drive would end with a 19 yard field goal by Drew Pearson. 

A touchdown pass to Jaavlon Bradley from Alston would give the Blue Devils the lead back of 17-14 with just under five minutes left in the first half. After a big stop by the defense, the Blue Devils blocked the Connor Foley  punt by the Pioneers and Jed Schlegal would pick it up and run for 47 yards and the touchdown. The Blue Devils would then lead 24-14.

UW-Platteville's Michael Pratl would kick a 40 yard field goal to end the first half with the Blue Devils heading into the locker room with a 24-17 lead. 

After halftime, the Pioneers came out fast with a score. Jack Eddy would complete a pass to Tim Jansen for 54 yards for the touchdown making the score 24-24. 

With a tie game, the Blue Devils were driving the field until a goal-to-go stop for the Pioneers. Pearson would kick a 22 yard field goal and the Blue Devils would regain the lead of 27-24. The lone second half points for the Blue Devils would come with 6:03 left of the third quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, Eddy found Mark Johnson for the 37 yard touchdown reception to take the lead 34-27. The Blue Devils had 7:42 to tie the game back up. 

The last drive for UW-Stout started at the 1:13 mark on Stout's 27 yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, Jay Alston threw a deep pass on second down to Akema Collins for 45 yards to Platteville's 33 yard line. After a would be third down, a holding penalty on the Pioneers secondary would come into play. Alston then rushed for nine yards to Platteville's 14 yard line. Eventually, the Blue Devils would run out of downs to give the ball back to UW-Platteville for the win. 

Jay Alston (Jr, Rochester, MN) threw for 235 yards with a touchdown with 14 completions and 30 attempts. 

With his best game of his Blue Devil career, Akema Collins (Sr, Streamwood, Ill) ended the game with six receptions for 155 yards, including a 45 yard snag. 

Rayshawn Graham (So, Blue Island, Ill) also broke his single game record as a Blue Devil of 52 yards with 105 yards with 15 attempts against the Pioneers. He would lead the Blue Devils in the running game, becoming the first Blue Devil this season to break 100 yards. 

Isaiah Hardy (Sr, Olympia Fields, Ill) finished the game with two sacks for a loss of 11 yards. The two seniors from Fort Atkinson, Tim Rue and Nick Schulenburg, would also record a sack in the game. 

The Blue Devils ended with 396 yards of total offense compared to UW-Platteville's 306 yards. The Blue Devils also held the ball for 33:11 of the game of the 60 minute tilt.

UW-Stout will be on the road again next week, as they take on WIAC opponent UW-Whitewater.